Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Lesson in Tension

Oh dear. Well, the swing jacket for Molly (Catherine Tough's Easy Knits for Kids) was going really badly. Its all garter stitch and it was so slow and was resulting in knitting related injuries on my forefinger. Grrr. I finished the back and 2/3rds of a front section over Easter weekend, but it was no joy. Then something made me check the tension (I know I know I should have done it before I started *rolls eyes*) and it was way way way off. It might have fitted a 2yr old. If they were very very small. Gah!

So I ripped it, and started again, instead of 3.75mm needles I went way up to 5mm (mainly cos my 4.5mm ones were in use). Oh what a difference! It knit like a dream, like a knife through butter, blah blah you get the picture. No longer tight and nasty, the knitting became loose and lovely. Hurrah! The down side is that it isnt as even, it feels a bit floopy, and it doesnt look as neat. But it feels softer. You can see the difference here. It nearly killed me to rip all that nasty knitting that I sweated over, but it was definitely for the best.

So have been going great guns ever since. Nearly finished the last piece and sewing up is on the agenda for this evening I think. Woot!

So I guess I have discovered I am a tight knitter...who'd have thought it? Its not like I have a tight-arsed personality. Oh. Well, OK then ;) So tension squares for me from now on. Or maybe just bigger needles. A lesson learned anyway.